I took my Tamiya Lunchbox out for the first time today. After all the hard work with the paint job I ironically managed to scratch it while it was still in the trunk of my Wrangler. If that wasn’t bad enough, 10 minutes into my run the Lunchbox lost died on me. It was performing really well, taking some great jumps while my dog was busy trying to catch it when suddenly it just stopped moving. When I got closer I realized the motor was working but the wheels weren’t spinning which meant something was wrong with the gears.
I got home, took apart the car again and turned out it was a problem with one of the gears, the pinion gear which is the one thats connected to the motor was loose. I tightened it back again and used some blue thread locker and its now working perfectly again. I think I am going to spend most of my time breaking my cars and then try and fix them… I love that.
If anyone is wondering where the place is in the pictures above its the huge park off the first ring road.
16 replies on “Lunchbox Down”
Nice pictures. It’s good the pinion didn’t chew up the spur gear or you would be OWNED!
Who keeps their RC’s in trunks, they need a seat!
What sucks about the lunchbox is other than the pinion gear all the other gears are plastic. i should check and see if they’re upgradable but since the Lunch box is an 80’s rerelease i doubt they’re available.
huge “park” … lol !!
i didn’t get the joke…
Yeah but if you should know, proffesionals use plastic gears on spurs because metal causes radio interference and metal pinion because it provides stability and loss of grip or something like that(can’t get the right word). Use the hard thread locker the one which comes in red. And don’t forget to lube the gears.(Not with Vaseline…hhahahaha loool)
ah thats interesting. I thought about using the red thread locker but decided to leave that as backup incase the blue doesn’t work. i’ve lubed the gears good with Molybdenum grease so I am safe.
10. Mark | January 3rd, 2009 at 7:05 pm
i doubt i would crack this but definitely scratch the hell out of it 🙂
it is happend to me in my car and i fixed
After your finished with your paint job, make sure you seal your paint with a clear coat of your choice. You have three choices, either flat, semi-flat or full gloss. Looking from at the pictures, i suggest you go with the flat coat.
Head to the tamiya dealer and grab your self a clear flat coat. I’m not a fan of tamiya paints my self so instead, head to Bo-Saleh’s shop in muthana and grab your self a Gunze- flat coat can. They come in different grades but trust me, it’s the best clear coat you can get in kuwait (in a can, unless your using an airbrush.)
Sealing won’t protect you from scratches perfectly, but it will help to keep the main paint job intact without harm.
*Just a reminder, the tamiya spray cans are lacquer based so make sure you get a lacquer based clear coat!! *
thanks for the tip, i didnt use any clear coat since i figured they only came in high gloss
from looking at your model’s picture, you could also consider some weathered effects. It would look great with the matte look, then you can apply the flat clear coat. Dupont has a flat clear coat but its for full size autos, not scale models. 🙁
oh I didn’t see comment #9, yeah what he said 😛
Mark, what Camera did you use for this? and do you usually rezise the pictures before posting?
I used my Sony W300 and yes I always resize before posting.
Its the Green Belt Park opposite to Tri Star 🙂
I have a castle creations brushless in mine and i keep striping the gears like it aint no thing I take the gears out and j b weld all over it and redoo the gears its very tricky but until i get replacements that what happens i also keep the whole gearbox together with nut and bolts i drilled right through you know it goes about 35 mph until it strippssss